newsobserver.com blogs

Tag search result

Tip: Clicking on tags in this page allows you to drill further with combined tag search. For example, if you are currently viewing the tag search result page for "health care", clicking on "Kay Hagan" will bring you to a list of contents that are tagged with both "health care" and "Kay Hagan."

King won't seek re-election to state GOP leadership

The N.C. Republican Party will see a complete leadership change at the top. GOP Vice-Chairman Wayne King announced Monday he would not seek re-election at the party's June convention. Chairman Robin Hayes previously announced he would step down.

“I am confident that the future is very bright for our party," King said in a statement. "Our new governor and our Republican majorities in the state House and state Senate are charting a new conservative vision for our state that will protect our freedoms, transform our economy and return our state to prosperity."

King recently joined Congressman Mark Meadows' office as a senior advisor. Gov. Pat McCrory is backing former Wake County GOP Chairman Claude Pope to lead the party. The list of candidates for vice-chairman is wide open. One announced candidate is former state Rep. Glen Bradley.

Meadows supports some form of legal status for illegal immigrants

N.C. Congressman Mark Meadows is joining U.S. Sen. Rand Paul's call for Republicans to shift their immigration talk.

In a letter to the senator, Meadows and colleagues endorse a three-legged stool platform that includes securing the county's borders, expanding legal immigration with a focus on high-skilled workers and a legal status that may fall short of full citizenship for illegal immigrants in the United States. Meadows represents the 11th District in western North Carolina.

The letter endorsed Paul's statement that the GOP must embrace legal immigration and conservative Republicans need to "become part of the solution" to the issue. "We believe such an approach would put the broader health of our economy -- not entrenched special interests -- at the forefront of this debate," the letter reads.

Document(s):
RepsImmigrationLetter.pdf

Morning Memo: Florida GOP governor takes N.C. Democrats approach

FLORIDA GOP GOV -- AN OBAMACARE HATER -- TAKES THE REP. INSKO APPROACH: That's right. Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican who first entered politics to fight the federal health care law, is proposing to take the money for Medicaid expansion for the first three years when Washington will pay the full cost. State Rep. Verla Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat, proposed the same thing in North Carolina, but Republican lawmakers shot it down repeatedly. "That's just completely nonsensical and doesn't work," Republican Rep. Nelson Dollar said of Inkso's idea.

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: The House is taking it easy today. A skeletal session with no recorded votes -- none until Tuesday, in fact. The Senate will convene for action at noon. But most the action will take place in the Commerce Committee where the bill to speed up and incentivize fracking with get a hearing. Gov. Pat McCrory lists no public events on his schedule. He leaves this evening for Washington to attend the National Governors Association and Republican Governors Association winter meetings. Wonder if McCrory will talk to Scott and Ohio Gov. John Kasich about how their recent decisions to expand Medicaid?

***Good morning. Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- more N.C. political news below.***

Morning Memo: GOP flirts with Charlotte for 2016 convention

GOP FLIRTS WITH CHARLOTTE: Could Charlotte do for Republicans in 2016 what it did for Democrats in 2012? The Republican National Committee’s meeting in Charlotte this week has fueled speculation that the GOP might return for its national convention in four years. “It’s always a possibility,” GOP Chairman Reince Priebus said Wednesday at the Westin hotel. “North Carolina was good to us. And it’s a red state – all the more reason to look at Charlotte.”

AFP TOUTS GOP REIGN IN NORTH CAROLINA: Tim Phillis, the national president of Americans for Prosperity, writes in a Politico op-ed that North Carolina is a state where the GOP plans to make a difference. It starts: "In Raleigh, N.C., on Jan. 11, a new free-market Republican governor celebrated his gubernatorial win at the inaugural balls. The occasion was historic for North Carolina: the first time since Reconstruction that a conservative GOP governor will be joined by free-market GOP state legislative majorities in both state legislative chambers." Read full piece here.

***This is the Dome Morning Memo a digest of important N.C. political news. Click below for more.***

What is your congressman worth? Some are multi-millionaires, others are scraping by

New Congressman Robert Pittenger is the wealthiest member of the delegation. Rep. Renee Ellmers lists herself as the least wealthiest.

That is according to a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, which has surveyed on the financial disclosure records that members of Congress are required to disclose. The members of congress report a range of wealth, and the Center calculated an average net worth between the maximum and minimum amounts.

Members of Congress had a median estimated wealth of $966,000 in 2011, compared to the median wealth of $66,740 for the typical American household.

Pittenger, the newly elected member from Charlotte, was ranked 29th in Congress with an average net worth of $33.5 million. He was followed by Sen. Kay Hagan(48th) of Greensboro who reported a an average net worth of $17.8 million, Rep. Mark Meadows(80) of Cashiers $6.8 million and new Rep. George Holding(88th) of Raleigh, who reported $6.4 million.

Four N.C. Republicans vote against aid for Superstorm Sandy victims

UPDATED:Four N.C. Republicans in Congress voted against providing $9.7 billion in aid to victims of Superstorm Sandy, including two new freshmen.

The lawmakers who voted against: Virginia Foxx of Banner Elk, Mark Meadows of Hendersonville, George Holding of Raleigh and Richard Hudson of Charlotte.

The three GOPers didn't immediately explain their votes -- part of a group of 67 Republicans who voted against the aid requested by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican Party star. The vote: 354-67.

In today's paper, Holding describes his main priority is to limit spending. Meadows is already being attacked by Democrats as a card-carrying tea partier. And Foxx is known for her uber-conservative stances.

Meadows seeks distance from Romney's '47 percent' remarks at private fundraiser

Mark Meadows, a Republican running for Congress from North Carolina's 11th District, is trying to draw some distance and distinctions between he and the former Massachussetts governor after his 47 percent remark.

A Wednesday front-page headline in the Asheville Citizen-Times reads, "Meadows: I'm Not Romney."

Shuler at the Biltmore; GOP challengers lag in money raising

Democratic Congressman Heath Shuler is holding a $5,000-a-pop fund raiser this weekend at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, according to the Sunlight Foundation.

Shuler is expected to have strong competition in the 11th district, which the GOP legislature has made more Republican-leaning during redistricting this summer.

Shuler reported raising $402,762 during this election cycle and had $233,108 cash on hand as of Sept. 30th.

His best financed Republican challenger is Mark Meadows, a Cashiers businessman, who has loaned his campaign $251,200.

Henderson County District Attorney Jeff Hunt had raised $101,578 and had $101,288 on hand. Spence Campbell, a retired Army colonel reported raising $7,800 and having $3,509 on hand. Dan Eichenbaum, an ophthalmologist raised $41,834 and had $10,287,

Cars View All
Find a Car
Go
Jobs View All
Find a Job
Go
Homes View All
Find a Home
Go

Want to post a comment?

In order to join the conversation, you must be a member of dome.newsobserver.com. Click here to register or to log in.
Advertisements